It must be a great feeling to win the co-championship of the first USCF National tournament you enter. Just three weeks before the start of the U.S. Class Championship in Houston, IM Andrei Gorovets (left) had come to the U.S. for the first time from Minsk, Belarus, to enroll in a master's program at Texas Tech University and play on its chess team.

His co-champion, who took home the trophy on tiebreaks, was another Texas college team player, GM Ioan Chirila of the University of Texas-Dallas. Both teams have been national collegiate champions.

Gorovets annotated two games for CLO:

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 g6 3.Nc3 d5
The Grunfeld Defence is a very popular opening nowadays--and one
of the most complex. At the board, I thought--"Okay, I am not good with
theory here. I am just trying to use common sense." The
wonderful book Common Sense in
Chess, written by second world champion Emanuel Lasker will help you to
feel comfortable even in unfamiliar openings. 4.cxd5 Nxd5 5.e4 Nxc3 6.bxc3 c5 7.Bc4 Bg7 8.Ne2 Nc6 9.Be3
So far all I've done is strengthen my center and develop my
pieces. But what could be better?9...0-0 10.0-0 Bg4 11.f3 Bd7
This line is fashionable nowadays. The old line is 11...Na5
12.Bxf7+ Rxf7 13.fxg4 Rxf1+ 14.Kxf1, a famous "starting position" in so many
games between Karpov and Kasparov.
12.dxc5
Following common sense, I just grabbed the c5-pawn. It's like the
young Victor Korchnoi used to do--let your opponents prove his compensation. I
knew that this pawn sacrifice is a very common trick in the Gruenfeld Defense.
The main line here is 12.Rb1.
12...Qc7 13.Qc2 Rfd8 14.Nd4 Na5 15.Be2

1.d4 f5
I like the Dutch ...2.Bg5
... and I like sidelines in the Dutch very
much!2...g6!
In such sidelines, I used to choose moves that were not the best.
Maybe because of that, Julio decided to play Bg5 one more time against me
[2...c6?!; I love this game-- 2...h6 3.Bh4 g5 4.Bg3 Nf6 5.e3 d6 6.Bd3 Nc6 7.h4
g4 8.Ne2 Nh5 9.e4 e6 10.c3 Qf6 11.Qd2 e5 12.dxe5 Nxe5 13.Bc2 Bg7 14.Na3 0-0
15.exf5 Bxf5 16.0-0 Rae8 17.Nb5 Bxc2 18.Qxc2 Rf7 19.Rae1 a6 20.Nbd4 c5 21.Nb3
Rfe7 22.Rd1 Re6 23.Nec1 Ng6 24.Na5 Nxh4 25.Nxb7 Nf5 26.Bh2 g3 27.fxg3 Ne3
28.Rxf6 Nxf6 29.Qd2 Nxd1 30.Kh1 Ne4 31.Qd5 Nef2+ 32.Kg1 Kh8 33.Nd3 Re1+ 0-1
(33) Ilandzis,S (2173)-Gorovets,A (2382) Pardubice 2009].
3.Nc3 Bg7
3...d5!? leads to very interesting play, despite the weak dark
squares. Here the main idea is that White has a misplaced knight on c3.4.e4 fxe4 5.Nxe4 d5!
The only move in this position.6.Nc3
White has another option: 6.Ng3 c5!; 6.Nc5 b6! 7.Nb3 (7.Nd3!?is an interesting gambit) 7...Nh6, and Black is ok.6...Nh6!?
This is a typical maneuver for this variation and for the whole
Dutch.7.Bd3?
It seems that White doesn't care about his central pawn. If
7.Bxh6!?, then ... Bxh6 8.h4 leads to very unclear play.
7...Nc6 8.Nf3 0-0 9.h4?
White goes straight for an attack, but why should it be
successful?--I don't understand. All of Black's moves look good: developing
pieces, controlling the center, etc. So I don't believe in White's attack.
White had to start defending his central pawn. In all these variations,
Black has an advantage, thanks to his pair of bishops: 9.0-0 Nf5 10.Bxf5 Bxf5
11.h3=/+; 9.Bxh6 Bxh6 10.Be2 Bf5=/+.9...Bg4 10.Qd2 Bxf3 11.Bxh6 Bxg2 12.Rg1 Nxd4 13.0-0-0 Nf3
14.Qe3 Nxg1 15.Rxg1
These moves were all forced.
15...Be4 16.Bxg7 Kxg7 17.Nxe4 dxe4 18.Qxe4 Qd6-/+, when White has
some tiny practical chances to escape, but Black is close to winning. The
secret is to play on the dark squares so the White bishop is out of a game.
16.Qe6+ Kh8 17.Bxg7+ Kxg7 18.Qe5+ Rf6 19.Nb5 Qd5 20.Qg3
Qxa2?
Miscalculation. It's a bad mistake, but it was the third game in a
day, so Julio and I were exhausted and didn't show our best chess. [20...c6!
21.Nc7 Qxa2 22.Rxg2 (22.Nxa8
Qa1+ 23.Kd2 Qxg1-+) 22...Qa1+
23.Kd2 Qa5+ 24.Kd1 Rc8 when the knight is trapped.]21.Rxg2 Qa1+ 22.Kd2 Qa5+

23.Ke2??
White commits hara-kiri. I was very glad to see this move. After
the game, my opponent said that he tried to go for a win with this move. Of
course not 23.Kc1?? Qe1#; but 23.Kd1! c6 24.Nxd4 Rd8 25.Qe3 e5 26.Ne2 Qa1+
27.Kd2 Qxb2 28.h5 is a sharp position in which Black is better. But after
having an almost clear winning position, it is not a great pleasure to play
such double-edged chess.
23...Re6+ 24.Kf3 c6
The rest requires no comments.25.b4 Qxb4 26.Nc7 Rf8+ 27.Kg4 Ref6 28.h5 Qd6 29.hxg6 hxg6
30.Kh3 Rh8+ 31.Kg4 Qd7+ 32.Kg5 Rh5 checkmate

Four GMs, three IMs, a WGM, a WIM, a WFM, three FMs, and seven NMs were among the strong field of 32 in the master section, which was dominated by university-team players.

Chirila and Gorovets scored 4.5 out of five and took home $1,000 apiece. GMs Conrad Holt and Giorgi Margvelashvili, both also on the UTD's team, tied for third and fourth with 4.0, each winning $200.

WGM Katerina Nemcova, who plays on the University of Texas-Brownsville's team; FM Steven Breckenridge, another Texas Tech player; and NM Jeffrey De Jesus finished in a three-way tie for the under-2400 prize with 3.5 points, each taking home $400. De Jesus was the only prize winner in the masters' section not on a university chess team.

"To repeat or not to repeat?"36...Ne4! 37.Kf1
37.Bxe4+? dxe4 38.Qxe4+ f5! 39.Qxf5+ (39.Qb4? Nd3-+) 39...g6! 40.Qf6 Qxe1+ 41.Kg2 Qc3 42.Qe7+ Kg8 43.Qe8+ Kg7 44.Qe7+ Nf7, and Black will press on.37...Qa6+ 1/2 -1/2
Draw agreed. After 37. Qe2, Conrad suggested ... Nd3. I was thinking about ... Qa4. I think it is a little hard to play with the two bishops against the two knights, and a draw is the correct result.

But there was a lot more action-the 2013 U.S. Class Championship attracted 452 players in 13 different sections to the Marriott Houston South at Hobby Airport, September 27-29.

In the Experts' section, Akshay Malhortra, Chris Hobart, Daniel Ng, and Arthur Mitchell, all of Texas, tied for first with 4.0.

All 10 of the other sections of the U.S. Class produced clear winners! Michael Ingram, Texas, took clear first in the Class A-section with 4.5. Jie Liu, Texas, swept the B-section 5.0. Karthikeyan L, Texas, did likewise in the C-section. Cecilia Tisserand, La., won the D-section with 4.5. Albert Yau, Texas, won the E-section with 4.5. Antonio Alvarado-Rivera III, Texas, scored 4.5 to win the Unrated section.

In the scholastic sections, Matthew Ortiz, Texas, won the K-12 division with 4.5. Oliver Wang, Texas, won the K-9 section with 4.5. Nathaniel Fernandes, Texas, won the K-6 with a perfect 5 points. Joseph Xia, La., won the K-3 with 5 points.
Chief TD Francisco Guadalupe, along with Assistant Chief Luis Salinas, made sure the national championship tournament ran smoothly. The event was organized by the U.S. Chess Federation. Find the full crosstable of the event on MSA.